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NEW DELHI, July 30 (Reuters) - India's monsoon rains, vital for thefarm-dependent economy, have been below normal so far but the forecast isgood for the rest of the four-month season barring the largely drynorthwest, officials said on Friday.A weather official told Reuters the crucial June-September monsoon wasnearly 15 percent below normal in the first two months of the season,while in the northwest it was 28.5 percent below normal.A senior India Meteorological Department official, M. Rajeevan, saidwhile July was bad, a low pressure system was bringing good rains to theoilseed-growing central and western regions.He said rains in July, vital for the flowering of crops, were 20percent below normal with the week ended July 28 registering 39 percentless than normal rains.The IMD had forecast this year's monsoon rains to be 100 percent of thelong-period average, but rains in large parts of the country have beenerratic.But officials said the situation was not likely to be as bad as 2002when the country suffered its worst drought in 15 years. "This year we arenot as bad as 2002 when we got only half of the rainfall in July,"Rajeevan said."The second half of the season is likely to be far better than thefirst half," he said. "But it is not clear if this system will bring goodrains to the north."Rajeevan said rainfall activity was expected sustain, at least untilmid-August, over central and western India. "After that we will have tosee if another low pressure system is formed and it brings rains to thenorth."Indian shares rose higher in early trade on Friday as investors wereencouraged by the improved monsoon outlook and firmer global indices.CAUSE FOR CONCERNNearly 60 percent of India's billion-plus population depend on the farmsector to earn a livelihood and bad rains wipe out their incomes which iscrucial for industrial growth.A finance ministry official said on Thursday deficient rains in someparts, mainly in the desert state of Rajasthan and the cotton andoilseed-growing industrially-rich western state of Gujarat, were a causeof concern for the economy.States in the rice and cotton growing northwestern region are facing adrought-like situation. Groundnut and soybean, the season's main oilseedcrops, have also been hit by erratic rains in the key central and westernregions.The federal food ministry has planned better stocking of grains indrought-affected states on a priority basis.Food Secretary S.K. Tuteja has asked the Food Corporation of India(FCI) to maintain a minimum stock for three months in the states of AndhraPradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.Officials said there was no shortage of grains and the government hadenough stocks to tide over the situation.On July 1, India had grain stocks of 29.9 million tonnes comprising19.15 million tonnes of wheat and 10.76 million tonnes of rice, well abovethe buffer norm of 24.3 million tonnes of grains.Analysts expect the Indian economy to grow slower than earlierexpectation of 7 percent in 2004/05 (April-March) due to the poor monsoonrains and high oil prices. It grew at 8.2 percent in the previous year,the fastest in nearly 15 years.(Additional reporting by Atul Prakash in BOMBAY and Hari Ramachandran inNEW DELHI)((Editing by Sugita Katyal; Reuters

LANGKAWI, July 30 (Bernama) -- The sweat and toil of Malaysia's landsettlers took centrestage as Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak narrated Fridayefforts to eradicate poverty to mostly African guests attending theLangkawi International Dialogue (LID).

GENEVA, July 30 (Reuters) - Negotiators scrambled on Friday for a dealto put stalled global free trade talks back on track, but the head of theWorld Trade Organisation (WTO) said the chances for success were finelybalanced.Several mainly poor nations raised objections to the latest draftoffering cuts in the huge subsidies rich nations pay their farmers as wellas calling for moves to liberalise global trade in manufactured goods andservices.One of the successes of the talks has been European Union pledges toend export subsidies on farm goods. U.S. officials also said they resolveda fight over aids to U.S. cotton farmers, which African nations say drivethem out of business.Success in the talks would lay the basis for continued negotiations inthe WTO's Doha Round that could give the world economy a long-term boost.Failure would mean a virtual rerun of the collapse of world trade talks inCancun, Mexico, last year.In a sign of the tough talking going on, chief mediators said thattheir initial midnight Friday deadline could slip into Saturday."A number of delegations saw improvements, but I have to admit it hangsin the balance," WTO chief Supachai Panitchpakdi told reporters, seemingto back off from earlier statements he was optimistic a deal could bestruck in the next 24 hours.He said key differences remained over reducing subsidies to farmers andin bringing down tariffs on manufactured goods."My sense is that delegations are willing to stay engaged and wouldlike to see a deal," he added.

29/7/04 KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones)--Asian cash palm oil prices were weakerThursday, with products in Malaysia moving slightly lower following heavylosses in soyoil futures.However, steady consumer demand helped cushion the negative impactfrom the soyoil drop on the Malaysian market, traders said.At the Chicago Board of Trade Wednesday, soy complex futures fellsharply amid bearish weather forecasts and a weakening cash market. Augustsoyoil ended 99 points lower at 23.25 cents a pound.Despite the sharp drop in soyoil futures, palm oil prices were onlyslightly lower.Traders said the recent disappointing weather in India was helping tosupport palm oil prices.They said, however, renewed buying interest from China was the mainfactor supporting the Malaysian market Wednesday."India, if there is demand, is going mostly for Indonesian CPO at themoment. The demand (in Malaysia) is coming mainly from the Chinese. Thereis a fair bit of them and that's why the market is holding even thoughChicago soyoil is down," a trader said.Chinese demand for palm oil has been on the rise lately amid strongerdomestic selling prices and tightening stock levels, traders said.China is the largest importer of palm oil.Demand from India, also a major consumer of palm oil, has slowed inthe past few days compared with the keen buying interest witnessed one totwo weeks ago, traders said.A lack of rains in India had raised concerns about domestic oilseedproduction and spurred active buying. However, those concerns have beeneased by a return of rains, traders said.A senior Indian government official said monsoon rains have revived inwestern and central parts of India over the past four days and rains areexpected to continue over the next three days.India's western and central parts are important oilseed growingregions.Traders said the progress of the Indian monsoon would continue to be akey influence on palm oil prices.Meanwhile, traders said they are also watching the movement of theIndonesian currency."One thing to watch out for is the rupiah. It's on a weakening trendnow. If it weakens further, we may see more selling pressure coming out ofIndonesia," a trader said, adding that producers in the country would bekeen to sell to take advantage of better returns in rupiah terms.Since last week, the rupiah weakened to more than IDR9,000 to the U.S.dollar. As of 0856 GMT, the dollar was trading at IDR9,170.In the cash market, CPO for August shipment was offered at 1,470ringgit($1=MYR3.8) a ton, down MYR10 from Wednesday, delivered basis in SouthMalaysia.RBD palm olein for August shipment was offered at $422.50/ton, down$2.5 from Wednesday.RBD palm oil for August shipment was at $412.50/ton, also down $2.5.In Indonesia, the government sold 5,000 tons of CPO at a semiweeklygovernment auction Thursday, said an official at PT Perkebunan Nusantara,the agency that sells palm oil from state-run plantations.The official said Thursday's auction price was down IDR42 a ton fromthe previous auction.PT Permata Hijau Sawit bought 2,000 tons, free on board Belawan, atIDR3,731/kg. It also bought 500 tons, FOB Dumai, at the same price.PT Nubika Jaya bought 2,000 tons, ex-plantations, at IDR3,670/kg.PT Multimas Nabati Asahan bought 500 tons, FOB Teluk Bayur, atIDR3,665/kg.RBD palm olein in Jakarta was offered at IDR4,300/kg, down IDR50 fromWednesday.

GENEVA, July 29 (Reuters) - World Trade Organisation states appeared toedge closer on Thursday to putting stalled global trade negotiations backon track after five core members agreed points in the hotly disputed texton agricultural reform.After hours of hard bargaining, the United States, the European Union,India, Brazil and Australia, representing a host of trading interests,together proposed changes to a heavily criticised first draft for a dealfloated by chief mediators."I welcome this agreement on agriculture amongst five key members. Thisis an important input ... and gives momentum to our efforts," WTODirector-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said.But he warned that an accord amongst the five, even if they speak for awide range of trade interests, could not guarantee the backing of theWTO's full 147-state membership.As if to underline his words, arguments continued to rage overindustrial tariffs just as differences were narrowing in agriculture,diplomats and trade officials said.Richer nations are pressing developing countries to open their marketsmore to industrial goods as the price of farm reform."We are seeing progress in most areas (of the WTO negotiations), but itis hard to report any progress on NAMA (non-farm goods)," said one WTOofficial.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, July 29 (Reuters) - Brazilian 2004/05(Feb/Jan) soybean exports were revised down to 19.8 million tonnes, from20.2 million tonnes seen July 1, Brazil's Vegetable Oils IndustryAssociation (Abiove) said on Thursday.Soymeal exports were also put lower at 15.2 million tonnes in 2004/05,against 15.5 million previously, but soyoil exports were left at 2.7million tonnes.In a monthly report, Abiove said that soy product export receipts wouldfall slightly to $9.70 billion, from $9.87 billion seen previously. Butthey will be well above last year's $8.1 billion.The reduction reflects lower prices in recent months and tradingproblems with China, Brazil's main market.Soybean imports 2004/05 are now put at 400,000 tonnes, down from500,000 tonnes previously.Soybean and soymeal stocks at the end of 2004/05 were revised up to800,000 tonnes and 762,000 tonnes respectively, from 500,000 and 462,000tonnes seen in the previous report.Other soy data were unchanged, including 2004/05 soybeans productionand crushing which are still seen at 50.6 million tonnes and 29.8 milliontonnes respectively.Abiove's estimates are based on data from 88 to 90 percent of the soysector.

Tuesday July 27, 2004 - CRUDE palm oil (CPO) prices, which have been underpressure, are expected to hover between RM1,400 and RM1,600 per tonne,according to IOI Corp Bhd group executive director Datuk Lee Yeow Chor.

LANGKAWI, July 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's success in managing oil palmplantations can be passed on to African nations as a significant lesson ineconomic and land development.

Wednesday July 28, 2004 - FEDERAL Land Development Authority (Felda) isinvesting RM3mil over three years on joint research and development aimedat maximising the commercial potential of oil palm waste and palm oileffluent (POME).

Tuesday July 27, 2004 - KUCHING: The Plantation Industries and CommoditiesMinistry is exploring the possibility of setting up a training instituteto produce a pool of skilled young Malaysians to work in the plantations.

LANGKAWI, July 29 (Bernama) -- Oilpalmworld Sdn Bhd, a company involved inglobal palm oil trading, intends to diversify its services into othercommodities, should there be enough interest from traders.

7/29/2004(EVENING MAIL - Birmingham Post and Mail Ltd.) - SHOPPERS arebeing warned over the dangers of buying a cooking oil which may becontaminated with an illegal dye that could cause cancer. Walsallenvironmental health officers fear some bottles of Golden Sun palm oil,which were found to contain the dye Sudan IV, have made their way intoshops in the borough.